Legacy of Blood
by Skyrocket
Summary: The Punisher is in LA and he's hunting the Runaways! Meanwhile, Excelsior looks to get serious and bloodshed serves as dark omen of things to come.
1. To Live and Die in LA

**Runaways/The Punisher**

**in**

_**Legacy of Blood**_

**War Journal Entry #138**: The news is buzzing that out in L.A. a dozen "prominent citizens" have just be discovered to have been part of some sort of superhuman cabal called the Pride. New York is my normal hunting ground but I've been out to L.A. several times. Both here and out on the west coast I'd heard whispers of something called the Pride every once in a while for years. I'd looked into the rumors but never found anything. I wrote the Pride off as some sort of urban legend among lowlifes.

Now I have just been proven wrong. I do not like to be wrong.

The news said that the Avengers are taking the lead on this and that the LAPD and the FBI have already arrested a lot of corporate big shots, politicians, and even some cops. As usual, the press is mewing about how this people will now face "justice".

The rich, famous, and powerful rarely face "justice". Especially not in LA. I'd go out west and dispense some real justice but there's a nasty gang war brewing in NYC so for right now I'm needed here.

But I'll be keeping an eye on this Pride situation. I have a feeling I might be making a trip to California soon.

**War Journal Entry #197**: I've finally decided that a trip to LA is in order to sort this situation with the Pride out once and for all.

In the months since word of the Pride's existence first broke I've gathered a lot of information on their activities from both official reports and my own contacts. The Pride were basically the power behind the throne of the LA underworld and major players in just about everything illegal that when on in California for about the last twenty years. Even the big boys like Silvermane and the Kingpin stayed out their way. The activities the Pride were involved in and the amount of people they had working for them all over the world is shocking.

I managed to get my hands on the report the Avengers filed on the Pride with S.H.I.E.L.D. (Without Nick Fury around they've gotten damn sloppy about security). According to the report, all of the Pride are believed to have been slain in an underwater battle with some monsters called the Gibborim.

The kicker, which the media has been harping on, is that the Pride was seemingly taken down by their own kids. Eager for a story the press is playing the kids up as heroes. I remind more skeptical.

After the fall of the Pride their kids were placed in foster care or various institutions. According to the reports I've read, they all ran away from the system on the same night about three months later. I've also discovered that same night they broke into a storage facility owned by the Avengers that was filled with nasty stuff confiscated from the Pride.

The kids then went underground for a while. S.H.I.E.L.D., the LAPD, and the Avengers all came up with nothing in the search for them. Speculation among law enforcement ran the gamete as to what the kids might be up to and where they were. Partying it up in Mexico was the most popular theory.

Then the kids turned up knocking the snot out of some idiot who calls himself the Kangaroo out in Silver Lake. Then it was the Circus of Crime in Riverside. Then it was Quicksand in Santa Monica. Five days ago they cleaned Stilt-Man's clock in Palo Alto.

With the Pride gone there's a power vacuum in the LA underworld and it seems like every idiot "villain" from New York is heading out west to try and stake a claim. Surprisingly, the kids have been doing a good job of thrashing the hell out anyone in tights that makes trouble.

To me there are three possible explanations for why they're doing this. The first is that these kids are actually trying to make up for what their parents did. This is the angle the media has latched on to in an effort to up their ratings. That's all very nice and dramatic but I give that possibility the longest odds.

The second possibility is that the Pride really aren't dead and that this is all an elaborate ruse towards some end. Fake your death, have your kids take up the front line as your soldiers, let the fools in the press call them heroes…Reminds me too much of what the Masters of Evil did as the Thunderbolts.

Granted, in the end it turned out that most of the Thunderbolts actually did want to turn their lives around. That's the only reason I've never paid them a little visit. (Though I still keep a close watch on the Thunderbolts. Just in case.)

The last possibility is that the Pride really are dead and that the kids are looking to sit on the throne themselves. Keeping other masks out of town would be a must if they're looking to take over where their parents left off.

This I believe is the most likely scenario.

I let the Pride slip by me for too many years. If their children are planning to follow in their parents' footsteps then they most certainly need to be punished.

I leave for L.A. in three days. Time to see just how far from the tree these five apples have fallen.

**War Journal Entry #198**: Word is coming in from Los Angeles that the runaways just got into a fight with a whole team of masks. There's a lot of property damage in Studio City and reports indicate that they might have kidnapped a student from a high school in east LA.

I have a feeling this could be the start of some sort of escalation in whatever the kids are up too.

Unfortunately, plans for my trip to L.A. have suddenly fallen through. Word on the street is that Bullseye is back in town. There's a sketchy police report of him fighting some woman, tentatively identified as Typhoid Mary, on Avenue D last night.

I don't know what's going on but it seems that gang war I've been dealing with is more serious than I thought. Considering that Bullseye and Typhoid Mary both worked for the Kingpin in the past I think it's a safe bet that the fat man in up to his neck in whatever's going on out there.

My trip to L.A. will have to be put on hold for the time being.

**War Journal Entry #223**: It's been a bloody month but the gang war is over. I've personally put three digits worth of lowlifes in the ground. The number of each other that they've killed is also pleasing. Bullseye, Typhoid Mary, and the Kingpin all slipped through my hands though. But there will be other chances to get them.

Right now I'm prepping for my trip to Los Angeles. No more delays. It's time to find out the truth about the Pride's kids once and for all.

**War Journal Entry #224**: The number of costumed criminals these runaways have taken down is impressive. This only drives the point home that I can't underestimate these kids. Their success rate also fuels my suspicion that they may have had training in their abilities from their parents. If this is true then this makes the possibility that the runaways' "crime fighting" is really part of some deeper plot all the more plausible.

Thanks to that S.H.I.E.L.D. file I got my hands on I have a decent idea of what each of these kids is capable of doing.

**Chase Stein**: The son of two "mad scientists." Seems to be the pilot of a big, green mech the kids get around in. The reports don't show him taking part in the kids' fights which leads me to believe he's taken up the role of wheel man.

There's been some speculation that he might be the brains of the group as well. The S.H.E.I.L.D. file included his school records but nothing in those indicates Stein was either unusually intelligent or a leader. Before hooking up with these kids the only team he was a part of was his high school lacrosse team.

Odds are the mech is one of his parents' creations. If he can handle that who knows what sort of nasty surprises he might have stashed away in case he ever needs to get his hands dirty.

I must also assume the mech is fully armed. If I need to take this kid out I'll have to find a way to get him out of that thing first. A canister or two of tear gas should do the trick.

**Nico Minoru**: The daughter of two "dark wizards." Damn, do I hate dealing with supernatural stuff.

I've got surveillance camera footage of her waving around some sort of magic staff. The girl seems to have pretty good control of the staff and has used it in some fairly creative ways according to the reports. Eyewitness accounts have her calling the shots when the kids are fighting.

Her school records indicate that she's bright, imaginative, and well-adjusted. The look I see in her eyes on the footage I have of her is that of someone who's been toughened up the hard way.

If I go in expecting nothing more than a former alter girl turned goth I'm going to get my head handed to me. My gut tells me this one is really the leader. Add in magic staff and I'd say she's the most dangerous one of the lot.

In a fight taking her out first will be my number one priority.

**Gertrude Yorkies**: The daughter of two "time traveling despots." Who the hell is S.H.I.E.L.D. letting write these reports?

From what I've gathered the Yorkies girl doesn't have any powers. What she does have is a pet dinosaur (identified by S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists as a deinonchus) that obeys her every command. As deadly as something like that could be she's yet to have it kill anyone. Everyone who's gotten on the wrong end of the dino's teeth and claws has earned nothing more than a few scars for their trouble. Audio from the surveillance footage that's been captured of Yorkies indicates she calls her pet "Old Lace."

School records on the girl indicate she's highly intelligent, level-headed, and unusually mature for a kid her age. My own observations tell me that if the Minoru girl goes down in the field this one would likely step in and take command. That, and the fact that the lizard takes orders from her, means I should take her down as quickly as possible if things get violent.

**Karolina Dean**: Daughter of two movies stars who turned out to be alien criminals.

This one normally looks like your stereotypical California, teenage blonde. When she uses her powers her hair and skin turn into a kaleidoscope of colors. She has the ability to fly and shoot energy blasts. Being a living acid trip aside, her abilities are fairly standard as far as super powers go but are still dangerous.

Of the lot the Dean girl is the only one with a criminal record. But getting arrested along with her parents at some protest when she was fourteen doesn't tell me much. Her school grades were good but not outstanding. The girl, however, was involved in just about every activist club her school offered.

If these kids are plotting something a boring, wannabe hippie would be a good front. Underestimating someone like that is an easy trap to fall into.

What I've seen of the girl fighting indicates she's a follower and not a leader. She obeys the Minoru girl without question and seems highly protective of her. The flying and long range powers make her a threat. But I'm betting if I take out whoever gives this girl her orders she'll fold quickly.

**Molly Hayes**: At twelve she's the youngest of the group and is the daughter of two mutants.

Oddly, her parents seem to have been powerful telepaths but the girl has superhuman strength and durability. Tests conducted on her by doctors at the X-Corporation list her as being able to lift around 20 tons without breaking a sweat. However, exerting too much of her strength exhausts her within minutes.

Good information to remember.

All her school records indicate that Molly Hayes was a normal, happy young girl before things turned ugly. Her grades indicate that she exceptionally intelligent for a child her age. A report written by her homeroom teacher says that the Hayes girl likes Harry Potter and seems to be a fan of that Doop thing and the X-Men, especially Wolverine.

If I get the chance to talk with her it might be in my best interests not to mention the time I ran that self-righteous little runt over with a steamroller.

Still, this fondness for Wolverine is interesting. All information on her parents strongly indicates that they leaned much more towards Magneto's view of mutant supremacy. Either the girl is very good at putting up a front or she wasn't indoctrinated into her parents' beliefs on human/mutant relations.

That's a point in the column for her getting through this alive.

Footage of Molly shows her laughing and having fun tossing around super criminals with rap sheets as long as she is tall. It's like it's a big game to her. The other kids are watchful of her, but seem confident that her powers will protect her from most harm.

Unlike the costumed idiots this girl has been slapping around, I have a pretty good idea of what she can do and how dangerous she could potentially be. Whatever happens I can't let her get her hands on me. But super strength or not, if I can't out maneuver a grade school kid I have no right to call myself the Punisher. Anything she might throw or swing at me could be fatal though. Best not to lose sight of her if it comes down to a fight.

The Hayes girl was reported as having been kidnapped by the Yorkies and Minoru girl in tandem with a boy named Alex Wilder several months back. The Wilder boy's parents have since been identified as two of the Pride. There's also footage of the Alex along with the other runaways intervening in a convenience store robbery during which they fled the scene with another teenager male who was part of the robbery.

Neither boy has been seen since. The media is spouting rumors that one of the Pride's children died with their parents and that one of them was actually loyal to the Pride from the start. But that could just be the press making up their own story again. I haven't been able to get my hands on the actual interviews the investigators conducted with the kids. Those were in separate files than the one I swiped from S.H.I.E.L.D..

But two kids who ran with the others vanishing is not a mark in their favor. The story that one of them stayed loyal to the Pride could be just a rumor. Or it could be a sign that maybe these kids didn't turn against their parents as much as some people think.

There's also been no word on Victor Mancha, the boy seen getting into the kids' mech shortly before their fight with a bunch of C-list capes in Studio City. Eyewitness reports are contradictory as to the question of whether Mancha went with the kids willingly or was kidnapped.

Investigation into the boy has hit a brick wall with SHIELD written all over it. If I need to deal with these kids the hard way I'll have to be sure to leave on alive long enough to get the truth about the Mancha boy.

**War Journal Entry #224**: I was able to make it to Los Angeles without incident.

Since I don't know for sure if these kids are bad or not I'm going to need to find them and do surveillance on them for a while. Lucky for me Micro had an old safe house here in L.A. that he set up for me for the times I needed to work the west coast. It's fully stocked with canned food, weapons, and even an old fashioned battle van. The van is a useful, unexpected bonus.

Once I settled in I took a deeper look at the information I have. Footage of the runaways shows that their clothes are clean and none of them seem to be malnourished. Clearly they're not living on the streets. That big green mech they travel around in would also need a lot of space. The Pride was too smart not to have some place they could go if things got bad. I think it's a safe bet the kids must have found one of their parents' old bolt holes.

I can only speculate as to what they might have in a place like that to deal with unwanted company. So fighting these kids on their home turf is out. I'll have to wait until they go after the next costumed clown to show his face.

Then we'll see what's what.

The Hostel

11:32 pm

"Nico, are you sure this is a good idea?" asked Chase. "What if the Cylon Kid there tries to hack a missile silo or something?"

"For pity's sake, keep your voice down," hissed Nico. "Victor's been with us for three weeks and hasn't done anything but be nice to us. That says something since we started accusing him of being a murderer as soon as we met him. If we want to make sure he doesn't go bad then treating him like a time bomb isn't going to help. We've got to treat him like a human being."

The pair stood in the doorway of what Victor had took to calling "the monitor room" of the new Hostel, formally the secret headquarters of the Pride. Screens filled all the walls of the room, each tuned to a varity of feeds from around the world. These monitors where all hooked up to an elaborate computer system which had several terminals for access.

On the other side of the room, Victor Mancha, the newest runaway, sat working intently at one of the terminals. Besides him, he fellow runaway Karolina stood watching the screen in front of Victor with curiosity.

"I get what you're saying in that the guy's one half human," continued Chase. "But the other half is machine and that half almost killed all of us."

"Karolina isn't one bit human. Are you afraid she's going to kill you too?" retorted Nico with a glare.

"That's not the same thing!"

"Just so you know, we can hear everything you're saying," called Victor in an annoyed voice. "Karolina is just too polite to say anything."

Nico sighed and rubbed the side of her head. "I'm the boss, Chase, and I say if Victor wants to use the computer for a while it's okay as long as we keep an eye on him. Gert's likely finally gotten Molly to sleep by now. Why don't you go find her and make out for a while or something? You're just making things here difficult."

Chase snorted. "Fine. But if Terminator Lad over there tries to eat you don't say I didn't warn you." With no more words Chase slunk out of the room.

"So now I'm Terminator Lad? The Cylon Kid? Man, Chase is just a fountain of annoying nicknames," grumbled Victor.

"We've noticed," said Karolina. "But he's pretty much been that way ever since I've known him. Don't take it too personally."

"She's right," concurred Nico as she walked over to her teammates. "Chase can get on your nerves but he's a decent guy under it all. It's just that after what happened back at the warehouse while Ultron attacking Gert…well, he's gonna be a little slow to trust you."

Victor stopped typing, looked at Nico and sighed. "Yeah, I guess I don't blame him. My dad, I mean, Ultron, was going to kill all of you. And he made me to be some kinda doomsday weapon against superheroes. After seeing a dead future version of his girlfriend that was killed by an evil future me…yeah, I'd be a little wary of me too."

"Thanks for being understanding about this," said Nico. "But combine all of that with our parents being evil and the last two boys in this little gang betraying us and, well, Chase isn't the only one with trust issues."

"Hey, I'm cool with earning you guys' trust," replied Victor, quickly. "One thing Ultron did program into me was that I always wanted to be a superhero. Now I can be. But I'll do it because I **want **to and not because it was what he wanted."

"Do we even really count as superheroes?" asked Karolina. "I always thought superheroes wore spandex. Not stuff they bought at the mall."

"If we're superheroes or not is just semantics," said Nico. "Someone has to watch out for L.A. and for now that's us."

"Now **that** is the attitude of a superhero," informed Victor with a slight smile.

"Whatever. Not to pry too much, but you're been at this pretty intensely for the last hour. Just what are you doing?"

The young Hispanic boy then seemed to tense up greatly. "Well, the first thing I did was check and see what happened to my mom's body. Your parents' system has back doors into all kinds of law enforcement and government databases and that seemed like the place to start.

"I found out that…what was left of my mom got sent to her uncle back in Mexico. Her folks, my grandparents, died years ago. The internet is a little spotty down in the part of the country, but I did find out that she was buried in her hometown next to her folks."

Victor pushed his chair back from the computer and ran a hand threw his hair. "She grew up in a little town down in Vera Cruz. She always seemed happy whenever she'd mention the place. I guess it was a good place to grow up. I'm glad…I think she'll be at peace there."

Nico unconsciously fingered the small crucifix around her neck for a moment. It was hard to picture that Victor could become one of the greatest supervillains in history when he was worrying about his mother's soul being put to rest.

"So that's why some of the sites you were looking at where in Spanish," said Karolina as she placed a sympathetic hand on the Mexican boy's shoulder. "I'm sorry your mom is gone but at least she got buried somewhere she'd be happy. You can take comfort in that."

Victor nodded morosely.

Deciding to move away from the rather morbid subject matter Nico asked another question. "I saw you get on Yahoo Mail when you first got online. Who where you e-mailing?"

"Oh, just my friend Jorge," said Victor. "I was talking with him when you guys showed up that first time. He was pretty freaked seeing all that happen. I just wanted to let him know I was okay but that I couldn't come back to school."

"What exactly did you tell him?" asked Karolina, cautiously.

"I certainly did tell him the truth, if that's what you're worried about. I'm not that dumb" replied Victor, suddenly looking annoyed. "I told him I was a mutant and that you and those costumed guys were people looking to recruit me. Then I said that I told all of you that I wasn't interested and that my mom and I were starting over again in South America to keep stuff like that from happening again."

"Do you think he'll believe that?" said Nico.

Victor nodded. "He doesn't have any reason not to believe it. I've known Jorge for a long time and this will be the first time I've ever lied to him. The info on my mom's burial was only in government files that had S.H.I.E.L.D. tags on them. There wasn't anything about it in the papers. S.H.I.E.L.D. is run by the UN so I guess the US and Mexican divisions must have worked together to cover things up."

"That's no big surprise though," commented Nico. "People get pretty freaked out by Ultron. If word got out he'd been running around in L.A. without anyone noticing that wouldn't look good for a lot of people."

"Makes sense," said Karolina with a nod. "I guess Turbo and those other guys must have called in S.H.I.E.L.D. and agreed not to say anything to the press."

"All the more reason not to trust them," dismissed Nico. "So what's that you're looking at now, Victor? Isn't that…whoa, the DEA website!?"

Victor turned back to the computer and resumed clicking. "Yeah, it is. I'm accessing their arrest record database. Man, your folks might have been evil but they were really good at making sure there wasn't much information they couldn't get their hands on."

"Yeah, that is pretty cool," agreed Karolina. "I've found all kinds of crazy stuff poking around in these computers. If you want, later I'll tell you who really killed JFK. But why are you looking around in the DEA database?"

"Don't you remember what Ultron said about my mom?" replied Victor, harshly. "He said that she used to be a drug mule! I can't believe my mom would ever do something like that. If there's proof she ever did anything it'll be in the DEA's files."

Just then the computer made a chipper beeping sound. The three teens peered intently at the screen.

"Aw, no," whispered Victor. "It's her name; Marianella Mancha. She's in here."

"It could just be someone with the same name," offered Karolina, hesitantly.

Victor said nothing as he clicked on the file. Almost instantly the screen changed and was dominated by a mugshot photo. Though much younger the woman in the photo was clearly Marianella Mancha.

Victor slumped in his chair. "Ultron was telling the truth. My mom **was** a drug mule."

Nico leaned in and began to scan the information in the files. "It says she was arrested in San Diego for trying to bring a small amount of cocaine into the country. The DEA tried to offer her a deal to testify against the people who put her up to it but she was too scared of whoever it was to say anything."

"She sure does look scared in this booking photo," commented Karolina. "She must have been terrified of what might happen to her if she talked."

Victor said nothing. He only stared at the image of his mother on the screen.

Not knowing what else to do Nico kept reading. "Your mom was looking at hard time but her public defender was really on the ball and got the case thrown out on a technicality. Then she somehow slipped away before the authorities could deport her. She was a little fish so no real effort was ever made to find her."

Karolina put a hand on Victor's shoulder again and gave him a small squeeze. "I know it's hard finding out stuff like this. But you're mom wasn't evil, Victor. She was just someone who made some mistakes."

"She's right," said Nico. "At least you had one parent who was a good person. That's more than any of us can say."

Victor stood up slowly and silently. "I know you guys are trying to help, but I need some time to deal with this. I'm going to bed."

The two girls watched silently as their teammate left.

"Do you think he'll be okay?" asked Karolina.

"Victor's rolled with the punches pretty well so far," said Nico. "Let's give him some space for right now and see how things go."

"Maybe we should do something to cheer him up."

"Like what?"

"Well, how about letting him help out in the next fight. You've seen what he can do and we've watched him practicing with his powers the last three weeks. He's improved a lot since then. Victor could really be a big help to us. They way things have been going it's only a matter of time before someone really tough like Graviton or the Mandarin shows up. When that happens we're going to need all the help we can get."

Nico frowned and nodded. "I agree with what you're saying but don't you think it's a little soon to trust him that much?"

"You said it yourself we're going to have to start showing him more trust sooner or later. If Victor really wanted to kill us he could have done it while we were sleeping anytime since we brought him here. Do you really think keeping up what we've been doing is going to make any of us any safer?"

Nico didn't have an answer for that.

Meanwhile, at the offices of the _Los Angeles Times_, a conversation that would soon become relevant to the teenage heroes was unfolding.

"Thanks for doing a late night food run for me, Mickey," said Phil Urich as he leaned back in his desk chair and rubbed his forehead. "I've got a deadline on this story in a couple hours and it's still not coming out right."

"No problem. I've done my share of all-nighters so I know how they can be," replied the former New Warrior who called herself Turbo. She then took a seat on the opposing side of Phil's desk and passed him a plastic bag with three cardboard containers inside. "You wanted extra garlic on that pasta, right?"

"Yeah," said Phil as he began pulling the containers out of the bag. "So how did the meeting with the others go today? I would have come but…"

"It was good. Julie, Chris, and Johnny are all still cool with the whole getting back into the hero game idea. They actually seem excited about it to honest."

"Mr. Jones will be glad to hear that."

Mickey was silent for a moment. "I guess so. Though that does sorta go against the idea we founded Excelsior on."

"Yeah, I know. But like Mr. Jones said, it's only a matter of time before some more kids show up here trying to play hero. If it's us taking the risks then we're protecting someone else. And I've sure you noticed that supervillains have been showing up more and more the last few months."

Mickey nodded. "I've been keeping track online. It's turning into a real supervillain crimewave out there. Hell, we had to help S.H.I.E.L.D. secure Hydro-Man after the Pride's kids took him down at the Glendale Galleria only the day before yesterday."

Phil stopped eating for moment and looked thoughtful. "Say what you want about those kids; they're good. Hydro-Man usually gives Spider-Man a decent run for his money."

"It should have been us fighting Hydro-Man and not those kids!" snapped Mickey as she suddenly bolted to her feet. "Let's be real here, Phil. We haven't taken down a villain on our own since Ultron. Every capture of a supervillain in L.A. since then has been those kids! All we've done is play clean up crew. Picking up after other people's fights is Damage Control's job. Not ours!"

The room was awkwardly silent for several long moments before Mickey sat down again. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to blow up like that. It's just…when I decided to get back into the hero game I didn't expect it to be like this."

"The hero game is never what you expect it to be," offered Phil in a conciliatory tone. "But we're still finding our feet as a team and even with backing from Mr. Jones our resources are still really limited right now."

"I guess part of it is that those kids are rookies and they're making us look third rate. I know it's arrogant to feel like that, but I took a lot of pride in being a New Warrior and the things we did as a team. And now..."

"Getting schools by newbies and always being two steps behind them hurts," finished Phil. "There's nothing wrong with having professional pride, Mickey. I don't like that these kids have been showing us up either. We just need a little more time to gel as a team and one good break. Then we'll be able to stop those kids and get them the help they need to live normal, productive lives."

"And what if one of those kids gets killed before then?" asked Mickey, darkly. "What do we do then?"

Phil didn't have an answer for that.

Mickey stood up again and turned towards the door. "We've been reactive to everything that's been going on in L.A. for too long," she said. "It's time we got proactive."

"Proactive? How?" said Phil, leaning forward.

"I've got some ideas," replied Mickey. "Let me check into some things and I'll get back to you."

Without another word she left. Phil Urich slumped back in his chair, completely forgetting that his food was getting cold. "Why do I not like the sound of that?" he asked the empty room.

Silence was his only answer.

The blinking of red and blue lights and the chattering of radios greeting detective Mark French as he stepped out of the car. At forty-three French was a veteran of the L.A.P.D.'s homicide division and boasted an impressive conviction record. His average height, badly balding red hair, glasses, and thin mustache made him look more like an accountant than a keen investigator.

A moment later French's partner, detective Gail Taylor, also climbed out of the car. Taylor was tall black woman whose athletic build made her look younger than her thirty-five years. "What do you think it is this time, Mark? More gang stuff?"

French studied the nearby warehouse whose entrance had already been taped off. "They wouldn't have pulled us off the Ericson case for bangers blowing holes in each other. The brass want that solved ASAFP. If we were sent down here it must be something big."

"Ah, the joys of being raising stars in the world of homicide," smirked Taylor as she popped a stick of gum in her mouth. "Only the best murder scenes for us."

"How's that cold turkey thing going?"

Taylor sighed as she chewed her gum. "Eight days and counting. The gum helps a bit. Never would have thought quitting smoking would be so hard."

"I about went nuts when I quite ten years ago," said French as he started heading for the tape. "But once I kicked it I started feeling a lot better. Just hang in there."

Taylor grunted as she chewed.

A uniformed officer who looked a little green around the gills lifted the tape up for them as they approached the door. The two detectives exchanged looks. They knew that when a scene could turn the stomach of a fellow officer that it was bound to be bad.

Bad was an understatement. Scattered all over the main floor the warehouse were over a dozen bodies, all men, who had been cut to pieces. Most of the corpses had had an arm or hand severed, a few had been decapitated, others disemboweled, and one man had been cleanly split in two at the waist.

A wide varity of guns and shell casings littered the floor which was slick with blood. In several places bags of white powder lay split open on the ground, the contents mixing with the carnage.

Taylor choked on her gum and French shot a hand to his mouth to help control the urge to vomit.

"Now you see why you two were called," came a voice. The two detectives turned to find a lanky man in his early thirties with dirty blond hair holding a camera and looking at them.

"Oh, hey, Cliff," managed French. "Damn, it's been a while since I saw anything this bad. You CSU guys got anything for us yet?"

"You're joking, right?" said Cliff. "We've barely been here an hour. Though I will go out on a limb and say that I don't suspect drowning or suicide as a cause of death."

"You've developed a twisted sense of humor, Cliff," replied Taylor who had recovered her composure.

Cliff shrugged. "It helps me sleep at night after seeing stuff like this."

"Well, whatever happened here L.A. is now short one drug ring," mused Taylor.

"Think it was one of the mask and tights crowd that did this?" asked French.

"Could be. Normal perps would have a hard time doing all this. Maybe it's one of those freak jobs that escaped from the Raft during that big supervillain prison break out east a while back."

"I don't know much about superhumans, but let me show you something," spoke up Cliff. The investigator turned his digital camera so that the detectives could see the viewing window. "As soon as I got here I noticed that the blood splatter wasn't right for a scene like this. Once I got to looking it became clear that most of the blood had been smeared to form a pattern. So I went up to the second floor and got a wide shot of the whole floor."

Cliff taped a button on his camera and a previously saved photo instantly appeared in the viewing window. It clearly showed that the blood did indeed form a design that vaguely resembled a cross between the letter **S **and a sea urchin.

"A mass ritual slaying like this is going to be the biggest thing to hit California since the Manson Family murders," said French as he rubbed his forehead. "Just our bad luck we'd catch it. The press is going to be all over this!"

Taylor narrowed her eyes. "That design…I've seen it before. I'm not sure where though."

"That was my reaction too," informed Cliff. "When I went to take some shots in the manager's office I figured out from where."

Without a word the detectives followed Cliff to a door nearby that stood slightly ajar. "We haven't had the chance to bag and tag this place yet. But just stick your head inside. You'll see all you need to know."

Not wanting to disturb and possible prints French carefully pushed the door open with his foot. The floor of the office was slick with blood. On the wall furthest from the door was a blackboard with various bits of shipping information written on it in chalk. But covering the chalk now were words written in blood.

**The Pride Lives!**

French and Taylor's eyes went wide.

"That design…it's the symbol of The Pride!" gasped Taylor. French simply swore colorfully.

"Yeah, that was about my reaction," said Cliff.

"You think this is some kind of a fake out?" asked Taylor.

"I hoped to God it is," replied French. "If it's not, then this town hasn't even begun to see bloody yet."


	2. Next Steps

**War Journal Entry #225:** The headline on in _Los Angeles Times_ says it all; The Pride Lives!

It seems like I picked the perfect time to come to L.A. after all. An entire drug ring, tentatively identified as consisting of upstarts who moved in from Las Vegas, was butchered last night. No loss there. But the Pride's symbol and the words "The Pride Lives!" were written in the pushers' blood at the scene and that's enough to have scared the hell out of the whole city.

The possible return of the Pride is the only topic on the morning news. I just watched a press conference with the chief of police trying to reassure the public and failing miserably. Even under a horde of TV cameras no one sweats that much. I'm sure the fact that his immediate predecessor is doing life in San Quentin for being a Pride lackey wasn't far from his mind during his little speech.

Odds are the cops weren't expecting this story to leak so fast. But their problem is my gain. No doubt the whole L.A. underworld is soiling its pants right now. When the scum panic my job only gets easier.

I'm looking forward to their reaction to finding out I'm in town.

I don't know if the Pride really is back or if this is some sort of brutal hoax. But it makes my need to find the Pride's kids all the more urgent. Because if the Pride really is alive then their children will certainly lead me right to them.

Mickey Musashi cursed softly as she reached for the phone on the nightstand by her bed.

"'ello?"

"Mickey, did I wake you up?" came Phil Urich's voice.

"Yes, and I hope it was for a good reason, Phil. It's Saturday and I didn't get to sleep until late."

"Oh, it's for a good reason, all right. Turn on the news. You'll see."

Muttering another curse under her breath the former New Warrior grabbed the remote control from the nightstand and hit the power button. The screen flared to life in a second and Mickey quickly flipped to KTLA. She then dropped the phone in shock over the headline plastered on the bottom of the screen.

Recovering her wits the heroine quickly scooped the phone up again. "Is this for real, Phil?!"

"That's the million dollar question. The whole office is going nuts over this! But one of our top reporters has a cop who was on the scene for a source. She trusts this guy and he says it's legit. Other people here with sources in the police have been asking about it and getting confirmation as well. I don't know if this is really the Pride's work, but I know for a fact that the LAPD is seriously freaking out about it."

"Considering how many boys in blue turned out to be in bed with the Pride it's understandable," replied Mickey. "The question is what we are going to do about this."

"That's why all of us are going to need to meet up and figure out a plan. The Pride may not have operated out in the open, but they were Masters of Evil level in terms of bad. We can't just sit on our hands on this one."

"Agreed. I'll call the others. When can you get off work?"

Phil sighed. "No idea. I haven't seen the office this crazy since the Pride story first broke. If I can't make it see what the other think and then we'll figure out something from there."

"Should I come in? I do work at the Times too, after all."

"No, I'll handle things here. I'll leave rounding up the others to you. I have to go now. A meeting is about to start. Later."

"Bye."

Once Phil had hung up Mickey's eye drifted back to the TV where a reporter was recounting a list of organizations the Pride had been discovered to have been manipulating. She frowned deeply before starting to dial.

An urgent knocking on the door of her room awoke Nico. "Come in already!" she called as she turned on a lamp and began to grope for her glasses.

Karolina swept into the room clad in a t-shirt and pajama bottoms. "Nico! You need to get to the monitor room like ten minutes ago!"

"Jeez, Karolina, where's the fire? What's going on?"

"It's all over TV! Just get down there and you'll see! I gotta go wake the others!"

"Whoa, whoa! Wait! Karolina, for pity's sake, calm down and tell me what's going on."

The alien girl stopped, took a deep breath and tried to say something but the words caught in her throat. She then looked at her teammate with a pained expression. "I'm sorry. It's just…I don't want to even think it much less say it. Just go see for yourself."

Before Nico could say anything her Karolina bolted from the room.

"For god's sake, Chase, could you have at least put on some pants?" admonished a bathrobe-clad Gert as she and Chased strode down the hall to the monitor room.

"Like you've never seen me in my boxers. And it's not as if they're not clean. Well, pretty much clean," protested Chase as pointed to the smiley face-covered boxers with one hand and adjusted the strap on his wifebeater with the other.

"I don't see any skid marks so I guess that counts as mostly clean," remarked Victor, wearing black sweat pants and a maroon t-shirt, as he jogged up behind them with Molly just a few paces behind.

"What are skid marks?" asked Molly who was also wearing sweat pants and a t-shirt with the words "Brand Hex" written on it.

Chase swore quietly under his breath but said nothing more.

"'Morning, guys. Thanks for at least putting on pants," said Gert. "Does anyone know what the hell is going on? Karolina seemed majorly freaked when she woke me up."

"Same here," replied Chase.

Victor gave a small nod. "Ditto."

"I think she was crying a little bit when she left my room," added Molly.

It was then that the quartet arrived at the door to the monitor room. As they entered Nico turned from the largest screen, her face extremely grim. Karolina stood a few feet away, looking slightly calmer than she had before but there was a slight redness around her eye that clearly indicated she'd been crying shortly before.

"Guys, we have a problem," said Nico coldly as she jerked a thumb at the screen. Displayed prominently on the screen was a group photo of the runaways and their parents taken the year before the kids had learned the truth about their families. Black bars had been put over the kids' faces to help protect their identities but the faces of their parents were very clear. This photo had been used by the media endlessly when the truth about the Pride had first come to light.

But now at the bottom of the photo were the words "Are the Pride Alive?"

Victor frowned deeply and Gert and Chase went slack-jawed.

"Mom?" whispered Molly.

Mark French rubbed his eyes as he took another sip of coffee. It tasted awful but he gulped it down anyway. Both his body and mind were fatigued but French knew given what had happened in the last few hours it would be quite a while before he'd have time for a luxury like sleep.

It was then that Taylor arrived at her partner's desk looking equally haggard. She tossed a file down in front of French before unceremoniously plopping down at her desk which faced his. "The boys in the morgue just confirmed the IDs on the stiffs from the warehouse. It was like you thought; all were members of the Hard Six racket from Vegas."

French nodded to himself. "I though I recognized "Lucky" Eddie Malone from a bulletin we got from LVPD. I gotta say, he looked better when his head was still attached to his body."

"So what do you think, Mark? Are the Pride really alive?"

"The Pride's kids and Captain America sure seemed to think not. I don't put much stock in what those kids say. But an Avenger and Cap no less…"

Taylor looked thoughtful for a moment. "Captain America saved the lives of my grandfather and his whole unit back in the war. Back then black units were cannon fodder. But grandpa said Cap didn't hesitate for a second helping them in the fight. Hell, he personally blocked a volley that would have turned my grandpa into Swiss cheese with that shield of his.

"After it was all over everyone was still alive and all the wounds were minor. Then Cap congratulated the whole unit on their bravery and shook the hand of every man there. Those boys had never been treated that way by a white man before and they certainly didn't expect that from a legend like Captain America. Grandpa talked about Cap like he was a saint till his dying day."

French blinked. "Wow. You've never told me that."

Taylor shrugged. "Never really had a reason to bring it up. But the way my grandpa talked about Captain America when I was growing up, well, I guess his feelings rubbed off on me. I know it might seem weird but I guess I always looked at Cap as someone who could do no wrong and was always right."

"And now it looks like he was wrong about the Pride and it bothers you," finished French. "If it's any comfort it looks like a lot of people could have been wrong about the Pride being dead. The question now is what we do next."

Taylor straightened up in her chair and put on an all business expression. "We're cops. We'll investigate. CSU is still at the scene, but from what Cliff has figured out so far a group of attackers is unlikely. Odds are, somehow, one person did all that."

"I don't know of many normal humans that can butcher over a dozen heavily armed thugs" said French. "So I guess it's time to start shifting through the FBI's supervillain database."

"What about the Pride angle?"

"The Pride weren't known for getting their hands dirty. A mess like this doesn't jive with what he know about the Pride's abilities either. So either someone is doing the Pride's dirty work or someone trying to pin taking out Malone's gang on the Pride for their own reasons. Either way, the sooner we get some suspects to work from the sooner we can start figuring out what the hell is really going on."

"Then we'd best get started," replied Taylor as she turned on her computer. "I ran into the caption on the way here. He wants a report in two hours and if we don't have something to show him we're going to be in for an earful."

"Days like this make me wish I'd stayed in the Navy," grumbled French as he got down to work.

**War Journal Entry #226**: Before I left New York I convinced a number of scumbags with west coast connections to give me information on the big players in LA now that the Pride are gone. I didn't leave any of them alive to give the local lowlifes any warning so the element of surprise is totally on my side.

To get to the truth about the Pride's possible return and their kids I'm going to need information. The easiest way to do that is to get out of the local scum. But in order to inspire the fear in them that I need I'll first have to get their attention.

I've decided to start with Hu Ling Zhu. The reigning king of LA's Chinatown, Zhu made his fortune smuggling illegal Chinese immigrants in the US. But instead of a chance for prosperity and the American dream Zhu packs his victims off to work in sweat shops and brothels to pay for the their passage to the States.

My source told me that Zhu conducts most of his deals over lunch at a restaurant called the Shining Wave. Zhu is the owner of the place and closes it every day between eleven and one to do business. It costs him the lunch crowd but I imagine Zhu values the privacy more.

That also helps me. Anyone in the restaurant then is sure to be working with Zhu and therefore fair game.

It's time to make myself known.

Hu Ling Zhu chewed thoughtfully on the bit of meat bun in his mouth and looked at the small, mousy man who sat across from him. Gordon Wang had been Zhu's personal accountant for many years and Zhu trusted his mathematical skills to keep his criminal empire flowing smoothly.

"You're certain of those figures, Gordon?" asked Zhu in Cantonese. "I expected to make quite a bit from having the next batch of fools from the homeland swallow baggies of heroin before coming ashore to be profitable. But these numbers are beyond my expectations. Not that I'm complaining, but…"

Wang made a reassuring gesture with his hands before replying also in Cantonese. "I assure you, Mr. Zhu, I confirmed the current price of heroin and triple checked the numbers before bringing them to you. By having the newcomers swallow the drugs you'll save yourself on the costly bribe fees to our inspector friends. As per our arrangement with the inspectors, the cost to look the other way on immigrants is far, far lower. By combining the two you stand to make an exceptional profit.

"The gods have smiled on you, Mr. Zhu and blessed you with fortune."

Just then the door to the Shining Wave burst open and a powerfully built man in a black trench coat stepped through the threshold. On his chest he wore a t-shirt with a large white skull on it. In his hands were two submachineguns .

"Hu Ling Zhu, I'm here to kill you," informed the Punisher, coldly.

Sheer shock had caused the criminals in the room to freeze. This proved to be a costly mistake as the vigilante began firing. Two of Zhu's half dozen bodyguards died instantly as a swarm of bullets flew through their chests.

With the thugs closest to the door dead now dead the Punisher dived to his left and rolled behind the counter. He came up in a half-crotch and fired to his right, killing the bodyguard who had been protecting the entrance from the kitchen. Now all that remained of Zhu's protectors were the two guards flanking him and the one who had been guarding the hall leading to the toilets.

The Punisher ducked low to help avoid the hail of gunfire that now came. Most of the bullets sailed far over his head and the rest were stopped by the counter which had expensive stone paneling.

Once the volley stopped there was silence for a moment. Now clear of their initial shock the bodyguards were in full professional mode. They glanced to their client and saw that Zhu had drawn his gun and had taken cover under his table alongside a cowering Gordon Wang.

"Get him!" mouthed Zhu, enraged.

The two guards who had been flanking Zhu spilt to come at the Punisher from each side of the counter. But as they began to round the counter the vigilante leapt up, not even looking at his enemies, and landed on the countertop. His guns held waist high and turned to each side the Punisher began to fire. Two more bodyguards died.

The last bodyguard had been caught by surprise again. But he recovered more quickly this time and fired off three shots from his pistol. Two of the shots caught Punisher near his right shoulder. But the Kevlar in the vigilante's armor stopped the bullets and the Punisher wasn't even slowed as he leapt forward.  
Frank landed on the edge of a table violently tipping it on its side and sending expensive dinnerware into the air. The bodyguard futilely fired two more shots that lodged in the table. The Punisher's arm then snaked out and fired, killing the last guard.

"I won't beg! I'd rather die than beg!" shouted Zhu, this time in English. The crime lord then fired a few rounds at the table the Punisher was hiding behind before making a break for the bathrooms. He only made it three steps before a volley of bullets tore into his lower legs sending Zhu to the floor with a scream.

The Punisher then fully stepped out from behind the table, gave Wang a glance to confirm that he was still cowering, and then strode forward.

Zhu tried to aim his gun but his hands shook so badly the weapon slipped from his grip and hit the floor with a clatter. The Chinese man cursed, gritted his teeth and turned to look at Castle.

"I won't beg," Zhu said simply.

"It wouldn't have done you any good," informed the Punisher. With another squeeze on the trigger of the gun in the vigilante's hand the life of Hu Ling Zhu ended.

His target now dead the vigilante now strode over to Gordon Wang who was weeping and trying to recite a Buddhist prayer at the same time. Wang stopped when he noticed the Punisher's shadow fall over him.

"Please don't kill me!" begged the accountant. "I just did the books! I never hurt anyone, I swear!"

The Punisher scowled and raised his gun to the side of Wang's head. "You knew exactly how Zhu made his money and you helped him. That makes you as guilty as the rest."

Wang had squeezed his eye shut and continued to weep. Then he felt the gun lower from where it had been pressed against his temple.

"Normally I'd paint the walls with your brains," informed the Punisher. "But today's your lucky day. I need someone to tell the scum in this town that they've got something new to be afraid of now. That's going to be you. Understand?"

Scarcely believing his good fortune Wang nodded his head enthusiastically. "Yes, I understand! I know who you are! I'll tell everyone Mr. Zhu was killed by the Punisher!"

"Then get the hell out of here before I change my mind."

Gordon Wang immediately scrambled to his feet and ran out the front door as fast as his legs would carry him.

Once the accountant was gone Castle paused for a moment to pick up some of the papers Wang had been showing Zhu when they'd been interrupted. He glanced through them briefly before tossing the papers back on the floor and heading out the door.

As he stepped outside a few people looked at him from behind parked cars and places on the sidewalk where they'd taken cover when the shooting had started. The Punisher ignored them and briskly walked to the spot where he'd parked his battle van halfway down the block. The onlookers were still hiding as Castle climbed into the van and drove away.

Some time later the runaways had gathered in the Hostel's "briefing room" as Nico called it. The room's many chairs and holographic display capabilities made it ideal for team discussions. It had most recently been used to help the team try a figure out who Victor's father might be.

Now dressed in their normal clothes the group was silent as they settled in and got comfortable. Gert silently opened a box of strawberry Pop-Tarts and began to pass it around.

"I know what we all saw on the news was a big shock to everyone," began Nico. "But whatever's going on we have to be smart about this."

"That stuff on the news was bull," dismissed Gert. "If our folks were really alive we'd all be dead right now. End of story."

"No way!" retorted Chase. "We beat our folks before and we can do it again if we have to! Only this time we make sure they're dead!"

"Gert's right, Chase. If our parents wanted to come after us they could have done it plenty of times when we were asleep or something and we wouldn't have been able to fight back. After all, we're living in their old HQ so it's not like they wouldn't know this place inside and out" said Karolina.

"That's a good point," agreed Nico. "Besides, flashy stuff was never our folks' style. They'd know that something like this would just bring the Avengers running. That would be the last thing they'd want if they were alive and looking to regain control of the city."

"Could they even do that without the help of those giant things?" asked Molly as she pulled a pop-tart out of the box.

Nico shrugged. "No idea. But I think they'd make a good try of it."

"This seems like a trick to lure you guys out of hiding to me," said Victor. "You gotta admit, if there was one thing that would get all of your attentions…"  
"I've been considering that idea as well," replied Nico. "This has trap written all over it."

"But with our folks gone who would have it out for us that bad?" quizzed Karolina.

"As far as I know, all those idiots in costumes we've beat are still in jail," added Gert. "I don't think it's one of them."

"Captain Jerkwad and S.H.I.E.L.D. would like to get their hands on us. But even I don't think they'd go this far," said Chase.

"When you guys took down the Pride you took a lot of powerful people down with them. Maybe someone like that is looking for payback," suggested Victor.

Nico scratched her chin a bit. "That's true and it does make sense. But that would be a really big list of people to deal with."

"The feds seized the assets of everyone they caught working with the Pride. Without resources butchering a drug gang or finding someone who could would be pretty damn hard," pointed out Gert.

"Hard but not impossible," countered Nico. "And there's still a lot about what our parents were up to that we don't know much about. It did take us a couple weeks after we ran away again to find this place, remember?"

"So what are we going to do about this?" asked Karolina.

"Try and figure out who might want to pull something like this," replied Nico. "It's not going to be easy but there's nothing else we can do. We should start by seeing if any of the people that got taken down with our folks got off on technicalities or something like that. It's not much but that's the best I can think of right now. So we might as well get started."

"Give me supervillains to homework any day," snorted Chase as he stood.

"If you don't want to help in the research give the Leapfrog a onceover," said Gert. "See if you can find any more helpful surprises your folks left in there."

"Fine. I still haven't figured out how to change the damage setting on the lasers from "stun" to "deep fried". Once I figure that out I--"

"Chase, you know I love you but I really don't want to hear about the lasers again."

As the others filed out of the room Karolina and Nico hung back.

"Things are about to get real bad, aren't they?" asked Karolina.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure they are."

"This isn't the usual game of whack-a-supervillain. This one hits really close to home. I'm worried, Nico."

The goth tensed and took a deep breath before speaking. "We're all worried. But we've got to face this. Our parents' ghosts are always going to be with us. We just have to be strong enough to put those spirits to rest."

The knock on the door of Mickey's apartment was quick and urgent. When she opened the door her teammates Chris Powell and Johnny Gallo, also known as Darkhawk and Ricochet, quickly stepped inside looking worried.

"Hey, guys. What's wr--" began Mickey.

"We've got more trouble," interrupted Chris.

Johnny was already heading for the living room where Julie Power, formerly Lightspeed of Power Pack, was setting out drinks on the coffee table. "Hey, guys! I hit Starbucks on the way over here. I don't know what each of you takes so I just got moccaccinosfor everyone. I hope that's okay."

"Hi, Julie," said Johnny, his mood lightening a bit. "Yeah, that's fine. But turn on the TV. Chris and I heard something big on the radio on the way here. It looks like things have gotten even more complicated."

As Julie reached for the remote Chris entered the living room followed by an annoyed looking Mickey. "Is today National Don't Give Anyone A Straight Answer Day or something? Because I'm getting tired of being told to check the TV news when I'm talking with people who know what's going on."

"Old time, New York-style trouble is what's going on," replied Chris.

The remote now in hand Julie turned on the TV and flipped to KNBC.

"…from footage taken by a tourist at the scene and obtained exclusively by KNBC, we have confirmed that the man seen leaving the scene of the shooting in Chinatown is the notorious New York-based vigilante known as the Punisher," informed the smartly-dressed newscaster.

Mickey's mouth fell open. "The Punisher?! What's that psycho doing here!?"

"Racking up a body count. As usual," muttered Chris.

"I thought that guy mostly stuck to New York," said Julie. "In fact, I read something about him taking out a bunch of mob guys in the Bronx on the net just a few days ago."

"Do you think he's here because of that thing with the Pride?" asked Johnny.

"No," said Mickey. "Word about the Pride possibly being back only broke this morning. Just hopping on the first flight to LA isn't the Punisher's style. He's a planner. So his being in town and the Pride situation are likely just coincidence."

"Weird coincidences are the norm for people like us," conceded Julie.

Chris nodded. "Ain't that the truth. But since the timing is likely a coincidence that means the Punisher is in town for another reason. And whatever that reason is it means more dead bodies."

"So what should we do?" asked Johnny. "Do we try and figure what's going on with this Pride situation or do we go hunting for the Punisher?"

"Is the Punisher even something we should be dealing with?" said Julie. "He doesn't have any powers. Maybe we should leave him to the police."

"The police have always been pretty useless when it comes to dealing with the Punisher," replied Mickey. "Too many of them are sympathetic to him. After all, a dead crook is one less crook they have to worry about. Like it or not, we're going to have to be the ones to deal with him."

"That's not going to be easy. The Punisher is a smart SOB. Guys with a lot more experience than us have tried to take him down and failed," warned Chris.

"Guys like Spider-Man, Daredevil, and even Wolverine, from what I've heard," added Johnny. "Hell, I've heard the Punisher even tangled with the Hulk and walked away."

"We're not much of a bunch of superheroes if we're reluctant to take on this guy just because he's tough," retorted Mickey. "But you're right, Chris. The Punisher is no fool and if we go after him without some sort of an edge he's got a pretty good chance of getting away."

"You know, if we catch the Punisher it would be big news," mused Julie. "Some good PR never hurt a new super team."

"I don't really think we should be worrying about that right now," said Johnny. "I'm all for getting our names out there, god knows no one remembers me, but we can try and spin things after we catch the gun-totting lunatic."

"Sorry, you're right. Saving lives has to come first."

"Odds are that Phil has already heard about this but just in case, Chris, use my phone to call him and let him know and tell him we're trying to come up with a plan for dealing with the Punisher," said Mickey as she pulled a cell phone from the pocket of her jeans and handed it to Chris.

"When that's done I'd like it if you guys could start going over everything you know about the Punisher. If any of you have ever run into him anything you remember might be helpful.

"I've going to my bedroom to make a few calls. I still have a few connections from my days in the New Warriors that I'm going to try and work."

There were nods all around. Without further words Mickey turned and headed to her bedroom.

In the monitor room of the Hostel Nico pushed herself away from a computer screen and began to rub her eyes. "God, and I thought geometry gave me headaches. Researching all our parents' evil pals is even worse. How are you guys doing?"

"Nothing that stands out," reported Victor.

"I'm not really finding anything either," said Karoline.

"I've got nothing as well," said Gert. "I'm starting to think that maybe we need a new plan."

"If you've got one I'm all ears," said Nico. "Everything we've found so far shows that DA's office and the feds are going out of their way to make sure all the Ts are crossed and Is dotted when it come to anyone who had anything to do with the Pride."

"Not surprising," commented Gert with a shrug. "Just about any of these cases could make someone's career. It's no wonder everyone involved is working to make sure everything goes smoothly. Everyone wants to ride the fall of the Pride to the top."

"That's the LA way," sighed Karoline.

"I'm all for trying something new, but other than research what kind of plan do we have?" asked Victor.

Just then the main monitor flared to life and 10-39 began to flash on the screen in bold red digits.

"Crap," grumbled Nico. "Talk about bad timing for a supervillain attack."

"It's really cool that you guys tied this place's system into the LAPD communications network," said Victor as everyone began to jog towards the area of the Hostel where the Leapfrog awaited. "You even use the their code for supervillains. It's way better than the scanner I had in my old room."

"It's something our folks set up," explained Gert. "We just tinkered with the system a bit."

In short order the four teens arrived where the Leapfrog sat waiting. Chase stood in the door of the entryway gesturing for them to hurry. "Molly and Old Lace are already inside. Hurry it up or we'll miss the chance to kick some butt!"

"Where is it and who's involved?" demanded Nico as she climbed aboard.

"I don't know about the who but the where is a pharmaceutical research lab called Optidrug. The scanner says the cops are getting everyone out and trying to close off the area until they can figure out if whoever's doing this means that SWAT can handle it or if they need to call in the National Guard."

"At least that means there shouldn't be civilians in the way," said Nico. As the door to the Frog clanged shut she turned and looked at Victor. "Feel like getting your hands dirty?"

Victor blinked in surprise. "For real?"

"Supervillain attacks are as real as it gets and our fights haven't been getting any easier. We could use another set of hands."

The young cyborg's face became serious. "Yeah, I'm ready to step up."

"Hey, wait!" shouted Chase. "Robo-kid is still on probation. How do we know he won't turn on us in a fight again?"

"I'm the leader, it's my call, Chase!" snapped Nico. "Now stop complaining and start piloting the Frog. People are in danger so I'm not going to waste time arguing with you."

Chase scowled for a moment before turning and hustling to the cockpit.

"Congratulations on the field promotion," said Karolina. "Don't worry about this being your first real supervillain fight. Just stay cool and listen Nico and you'll be fine."

Nico blushed slightly. "Um, thanks, Karolina."

"Don't worry about me," reassured Victor. "I'm ready for this. It's clobberin' time!"

Gert rolled her eyes. "God save me from the superhero fanboys."

When Mickey re-entered the living room she saw here three teammates clustered around the TV. "I like _The Price Is Right_ to but now is really not the time, guys."

"We're not watchin' game shows," insisted Johnny. "We left the TV on while we were talking to see if there would be any more word on the Punisher. Instead, this popped up just a minute ago."

"Some supervillain is attacking a research lab," explained Julie.

"Who is it this time?" sighed Mickey.

"No idea. But a news chopper over the area showed people evacuating and a big hole in the side of the building," informed Chris.

"So someone with some real punch then," assessed the former New Warrior. "Johnny. Julie. Do you guys have your costumes handy?"

"Mine's in the car," replied Johnny.

"I keep mine in my bag," said Julie. "Gotta love unstable molecules. They can also make clothes really compact."

"Then suit up while I get changed. Chris, fire up your amulet. We've got a bad guy to stop."

Julie jammed a fist into the air. "Time to be big damn heroes!"

On a busy road a nondescript white van was speeding and expertly maneuvering around the other vehicles. Inside the Punisher sat driving, silent, only taking his eyes off the road for occasional glance eyes towards the van's GPS system. On the screen a bright green dot indicating the location of the Optidrug facility was quickly growing closer.

The Leapfrog landed in the main parking lot of Optidrug with a lot of noise and the cracking of some pavement. Moments later the runaways rushed out and Nico, the Staff of One now in hand, quickly surveyed the scene.

"Looks like the cops got everyone out but there might still be people trapped inside. Remember, this company likely has money to burn so property damage is not our concern. Helping anyone still inside and stomping whoever did this before Excelsior shows are. So let's do it."

With no further words Nico, Gert, Molly, Karolina, Victor, and Old Lace charged into the hole into the side of the building.

"Nail 'em one for me!" called Chase from the doorway of the Leapfrog.

Inside the young heroes found themselves among the ruins of what had once been a high-tech research lab. Smashed computers and machinery were strewn all about, several puddles of oddly-colored liquids coagulated on the floor, and a small cloud of acrid smoke filled the air.

"Um, where's the supervillain?" asked Victor.

Just then another wall exploded. From the dust emerged a powerfully build figure clad in a dark green Victorian-style suit and holding a box under one arm. The man's hair was wild and greasy and his complexion disturbingly yellow. His beady eyes, twitching with a hidden rage, quickly focused on the runaways.

"Okay, buddy, hold it right there!" shouted Nico. "This crap ends now!"

"You are in painful need of a lesson in manners, little girl," snarled the man as he tossed the box aside readied himself to attack. "No one addresses me as 'buddy'. You will call me 'mister'. Specifically, you will call me **Mr. Hyde**!"

Outside Chase heard a loud crash from within the building. With a curse he dashed down the gangplank and ran a few steps across the parking lot. "Gert, watch yourself in there," he whispered.

Just then the teen felt something hard and metallic pressed to the back of his head. "Chase Stein, I'd like to have a word with you," informed the deep, gravelly voice of the Punisher.

**To be continued…**

**Author's Notes:** I've branched a bit from established continuity here so now Victor's first supervillain fight will be Mr. Hyde instead of Swarm. I've also taken a few creative liberties with the set up of the Hostel, but nothing that I think is too unreasonable.

Mr. Hyde is a long time Marvel villain who I think will give the team a good fight. If you don't know much about him read his official entry on Marvel's website or check Wikipedia. I'll be sharing a bit of information on him as well but I won't be going in-depth.

I know this chapter was mostly talk so there will be a nice dose of action next time. Of course, things will also get more complicated for everyone involved.

The "Brand Hex" on Molly's t-shirt is a nod to the Marvel Boy mini-series. Given his role in Runaways/Young Avengers I enjoyed the idea of giving him a little bit of a shout out.

Speaking of shout outs, Julie's line about being "big damn heroes" is a nod to the film _Serenity_.


End file.
